An Ecology Field Trip Focusing on Inquiry: A Northern Perspective

Abstract

IN NORTHERN ONTARIO, as well as in the northern states, biology teachers planning an ecology field trip face several challenges. If the ecology portion of a senior biology program is scheduled for the spring, ample time for student preparation is available; but in early May, plants are just beginning to bloom after winter dormancy. This limits opportunities to study population density and canopy effects. Because plants are difficult to identify in the early spring, the opportunity to classify the more common local species is lost. If the trip is postponed until the end of May, predatory insects, such as black fly, mosquitoes, or ticks, make the experience unpleasant for most students. In addition, only one month of school remains in which to discuss results. Though winter appears to be an excellent time to teach field ecology, particularly because we are exposed to so much of it, the basics of a first-level ecology program cannot be adequately presented. Teaching winter ecology is possible, as several authors have shown (Phillips and Watson 1976, 1977). Conducting autumn field trips presents other problems. School opens in September, but the field trip should be conducted while leaves are still on the trees and before snow has started to accumulate. This means the trip must be taken by the first week in October, which gives the teacher less than a month to introduce ecology and present the material necessary to prepare students for the trip. In the face of such problems, it is not unusual to find teachers avoiding large, multi-faceted field trips that use the inquiry concept (Voss and Brown 1968). At Kirkland Lake Collegiate, we conduct a field trip in the autumn that is an integral part of the ecology program and a resource base on which subsequent programs can be built. The days before the trip are devoted to nurturing the curiosity of students and presenting background materials.